


The Pirates of Voltron; or, Ships on the Horizon!

by Napoleon In Rags (Your_Chrome_Horse_Diplomat)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Bickering, Canon-Typical Violence, Did I say flirting i meant fighting, Fluff, Humor, Hunk is a sweet anxious bean who just wants everyone to get on, Lance and Keith have to stop flirting, Light Angst, Multi, Not a pirates of the carribean cross-over, Pidge ISN'T an angry little gremlin I swear, Pidge is disguised as a boy, Sailing, Sea the Sea, Sea the world, Shiro will have a hook, Swordfighting, They're gonna see the world, Unresolved Romantic Tension, ahem, geddit, i'll stop now, swashbuckling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 15:11:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Your_Chrome_Horse_Diplomat/pseuds/Napoleon%20In%20Rags
Summary: “You guys are kidding me, right?” Keith said, looking at them in disbelief. “You guys aregroundedbecause yousank your ship during training, and now you want me to help steal an evenworseship to sail with you intodeadly, uncharted waters?”“Yep,” said Lance.“Yep,” said Pidge.“Yeah, pretty much,” said Hunk, shrugging. “Crazy, huh?”---The Voltron Dorks - except they're Pirates on the High Seas!





	The Pirates of Voltron; or, Ships on the Horizon!

Chapter 1

They found Lance in a booth near the back, hidden behind a wall of empty flagons and plates of chicken. The candle at his table had burned down to a stump, and as they approached, he drained the last of his latest ale. Most of it spilled down the front of his Garrison uniform; He didn’t seem to notice it until the girls crowded around him started to giggle.

“There he is,” Pidge growled, and started stomping through the crowd towards him.

The tavern was bursting at the seams with off-duty Navymen and merchant crews on lay-overs. Considering that she was only at about elbow height to most of them, common sense said Pidge would find the crowds impassable. Common sense, though, had never seen the storm that was on her scowling face. Sailors who had stared down typhoons took one look, and hastily stepped out of her way.

Pidge marched up to Lance’s table and slammed her fist on the wood, setting his flagons clattering. He jumped like a startled cat.

“Lance, you were supposed to meet us here half an hour ago,” she said.

“I was here!” Lance answered. “I was waiting for you.” He shrugged lazily, accidently elbowing the girls leaning on him to either side, and laughed to himself. The two girls, one dark haired and one light, laughed alongside him and played at his collar. Lance’s cheeks were deep red, and it was only half down to the alcohol.

“How were we meant to see you here? You should have come find us.”

“Well I couldn’t leave! I’m needed here – the ladies love me.” He punctuated this by arching one eyebrow and looking between the two girls, who both giggled.

Pidge scowled. “They don’t love you, Lance, they love your coin.”

“Well then I’m lucky it’s payday – I’ve got plenty of coin to go round.”

From behind her, Pidge heard a fumble, a crash, and polite apologizing. She looked around to see Hunk sheepishly catching up, with half a bowl of peanuts stuck in his hair.

“Hey, sorry guys, I got caught in the crowd. Can you believe it’s so busy in here? I caught a whiff of the kitchens on the way over and it smelled _awful_. Kinda made me hungry though – think we have time to get food?”

Pidge patted Hunk’s shoulder apologetically. “Sorry Hunk, we’re already late – thanks to _somebody_ – but maybe we can get you some food afterwards.”

Hunk shrugged happily. “Nah, that’s alright, I’ll only regret it – if we’re gonna be sailing tonight, I’ll only barf.”

Lance groaned. “Ah dude, don’t say barf in front of the ladies! You’re gonna spoil the mood.”

“Good,” Pidge grunted. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up anyway ladies, I’ve seen him on his bunk – he doesn’t have much to brag about. Now get up, we said we’d meet him here – we don’t want him to leave.”

Lance pulled the sourest of sour looks, but he did reluctantly start to move. Untangling himself from his companions, he shot them both his most apologetic winks.

“Sorry ladies, I’ve got important top-secret Navy Garrison business to get to – but don’t go too far, you hear?”

The girls giggled at him again, and disappeared together into the crowds. Lance’s pleasant expression lasted until he lost sight of them, before dropping into something that could have been a Halloween mask.

“That was…,” he started, pointedly not looking Pidge in the eye, “ _so_ not cool.”

“Hey Lance,” Hunk said, his eyes drifting to the table, “you um, going to finish that chicken?”

* * *

They found him where he said he’d be, lurking in the shadows near the back wall. He stood with his arms crossed and his head bowed, shrouding his face in darkness. He wore his jacket with the collar high, like a mask. The fabric was a well-faded orange, now nearly white, and the arms showed the dead threads from having a crest ripped off. It had once been a Garrison jacket, they all recognized, but not for a long time.

Hunk tapped his fingers together nervously. “Eh… are you Keith?” he asked.

The boy nodded silently, and cast his eyes around the room. “We can’t talk in here,” he said. “Follow me.”

He stepped forward from the wall, looked around once more, and slipped out through the back door. Hunk, Lance and Pidge stood after him, somewhere between confused and nervous.

“Is this guy a vampire or what?” Lance grumbled. His face was pouty and sullen – still annoyed over his interrupted date, Pidge guessed. “He looks like he’s gonna take a bite out of us.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Hunk said, looking between them both. “We can still go back to the Garrison, you know. We haven’t actually broken any rules yet. Tonight, I mean.”

“You two can go back if you want,” Pidge said, “I’m going. If he knows something, I have to know too.”

Lance shrugged. “I don’t know why you’re so invested in this thing, but sure, why not? Besides, there might be treasure in it. Let’s hear him out.”

“Coming, Hunk?” they both asked.

Hunk looked between the two of them, tapping his fingers like a metronome. “I guess,” he said, “but I feel like I’m going to regret eating that chicken.”

* * *

They followed Keith out into the alley behind the tavern, shivering as the cold sea air whipped against them. It was too dark to see out to sea, but they could hear the waves rumbling and rolling over each other. Overhead, the Garrison Fortress glowed at the peak of the island, a fiery beacon for all the ships at sea, and with heavy canons ready for any Galran fleets foolish enough to float too close.

“ _Psst_. Over here.”

They followed the sound to see Keith leaning against the outside wall. Now that he was away from the crowds, he wasn’t hiding his face so much. Now that it was exposed, letting the torchlight catch his sharp jawline, Lance narrowed his eyes.

Keith looked them over. “We have to talk out here,” he said. “I shouldn’t even be on this island. If they realize I’m back, I’ll probably be arrested. Nobody knows you’re planning to desert, right?”

“We’re not deserting,” Pidge answered. “We’ll be back. We’re just taking an assignment more… independently.”

Keith snorted. “Don’t count on it,” he said. “The admiralty aren’t the biggest fan of independence.”

Lance, who had up to this point been silently stroking his chin in thought, suddenly stepped forward and thrust his face up to Keith’s for a closer look.

“Hey, wait a second,” he said, narrowing his eyes further. “I recognize you.”

Keith, for his part, backed away from the boy like a cat from splashing water

“Could you… not do that?” he said, bending so far back that, if not for the wall, he’d have surely fallen.

“You used to be posted in the Garrison Fort,” Lance continued, rubbing his chin the more. “Didn’t you get court martialled or something? They never told us what for, but I heard rumours…”

“It doesn’t matter what you heard,” Keith shot back, with a sudden hardness in his voice. He straightened up, pushing himself into Lance’s personal space until the other boy had to take a step back.

“Hey, let’s not get upset guys, okay?” Hunk said, gently putting his hands on Lance’s shoulders and not-so-subtly dragging him back a few steps. “If Keith could get in trouble just for being here, then I’m guessing _we’d_ get in trouble for being with him, so let’s try not to attract attention.”

“Hunk is right,” Pidge said. “We’re here for a reason. Whether we call it deserting or not, if we’re going to do this, we have to go soon. Keith, do you have the information you said you do?”

Keith nodded, still holding a cold eye on Lance. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a worn and many-times-folded piece of parchment, and held it to the light.

It was a map. A treasure map.

“I have it. Or at least, I hope I do. This is a map of uncharted lands to the North – at least, the charted parts of the uncharted lands. And these…”

He tapped his fingers towards a particular row of squiggles.

“These are the Altean islands.”

“I’ve heard of those,” Lance said.

Pidge nodded. “They’re unexplored islands. Garrison ships have never been anywhere near that area. We only know about them from some navigational charts the Garrison salvaged from a Galran wreck.”

“Ehh, correction,” interrupted Hunk, holding up a finger. “ _The Garrison_ only knows about them because of the Galran wreck. _We_ only know about them because you broke into Admiral Iverson’s office.”

Pidge sucked on her teeth. “Okay true, but maybe don’t say that so loud.”

“So how did Vampire Boy here hear about them?” asked Lance, nudging Keith with his elbow. Keith made a sound that sounded like a supressed growl.

“I’ll tell you how,” replied Keith through gritted teeth. Pointing to the map again, he gestured to a thick black line cutting across the map, arcing up from the south. “This was the route for the HMS Kerberos. It was a Garrison scouting ship that disappeared a few months ago, with three souls aboard. One of those men was my friend – and before he left, before the Admiral kicked me out, he gave me this map.”

Pidge, Hunk and Lance took in this information with three very different reactions.

Pidge stared solemnly at the map, suddenly very silent. She blinked rapidly and, looking away, rubbed the back of her hand against her eyes.

“The crew gave you this?” she asked. “Could I… hold it, for a sec?”

Keith looked at her for a second and handed the paper over.

Hunk looked at the map as though it were coated in deadly poison, and pulled his hands back as if to avoid brushing against it. His soft eyes were open wide, and if anybody looked down, they would have seen him nervously dancing from foot to foot.

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Huh,” he said, and yanked the map out of Pidge’s hand. “They probably found some sweet treasure and ran off with it – like we’re gonna do once we follow them!”

“Give me that,” Keith chided, taking the map back out of Lance’s hands. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Shiro would never do that.”

“Yeah,” agreed Pidge, supressing a sniffle. “And besides, the other two men on that ship were Sam and Matt Holt. They left behind a family, a daughter and a sister. They’d never leave her.”

Seeing the solemn look on both their faces, the smirk faded off of Lance’s. He raised his hands in defence, and then put them gently on both of their shoulders.

“Jeez guys I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you down, I was just joking. I’m sure they’re fine.” Then, punching Pidge lightly in the shoulder, he added “but heck Pidge, I didn’t know you had such a soft spot. If I didn’t know you as a _boy_ , I’d think you were a Holt too!”

Keith grumbled to himself and shrugged off Lance’s hand.

“We’ve talked about this enough,” said Keith, folding his arms. “If you guys are serious about following that route, we have to leave tonight. Do you have a ship?”

“Well...” said Hunk.

“…not exactly,” admitted Lance.

Pidge wiped her eye once more and turned to face Keith. “But we have a pretty good idea where to get one.”

* * * 

“So which ship are we taking?”

Keith scanned his eyes across the harbour, holding his collar high against his face as a make-shift mask. The four of them were crouched behind a stack of crates which weren’t due to be loaded till the morning. Keith was drumming his finger nervously against the wood.

A short distance ahead of them, an assortment of fishing boats and small merchant vessels bobbed and creaked in the water, which looked almost black. Further back, the majestic Warships stood lit up by torchlight, colossal and unmoving as mountains. Over there, the harbour was crawling with Garrison personnel, many with muskets in their hands. Here, the crews were expected to look out for themselves.

Lance squeezed himself beside Keith and pointed. “That one,” he said. “That’s our girl.”

“We’ve had our eye on it for a while,” Pidge said, nodding. “It’s been here for a few weeks. We think it’s been abandoned. It’s our best option.”

“We already loaded it when nobody was looking,” Hunk chipped it. “We just couldn’t, you know, take it without anybody noticing.”

They didn’t have to see Keith’s face to sense his reaction. He followed Lance’ finger with increasing dismay and, when he finally saw the ship, practically growled.

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” he said.

It was practically a _raft_. The ship that Lance was so proudly pointing to was a small fishing boat, single-sail, with an open deck and probably a small crew’s quarter down below. The ship’s wheel was on a small raised platform at the back, and some of the cogs seemed to be missing. There had once been a railing running all around the edge, but about half of it seemed to have disappeared.

“You want _me_ ,” Keith started, audibly straining to hold back his disbelief, “to sail into uncharted oceans in _that_?”

“Hey, that’s the SS Nyma you’re talking about,” Lance warned, folding his arms. “She’s beautiful and she’s perfect and you should watch your tone.”

“It’s not perfect, we know,” Pidge said. “But it’s the best we got.”

Keith was drumming knuckles against his forehead. “I thought you guys were in the Navy? Don’t you have a ship already? Why don’t we take that?”

“Well, not exactly…” Hunk said, rubbing the back of his head. “We are in the Navy, and we did have a ship, but we sort of… sank it. During training.”

“They’ve kept us in the fort for the last few weeks,” Pidge admitted. “Guard duty, kitchen duty, sanitation…” Her lip curled a little at the last one. “It’s sucked.”

“Yeah, their kitchens are even worse than in that tavern back there,” said Hunk, with a slightly haunted look in his eyes.

“You guys are kidding me, right?” Keith said, looking at them in disbelief. “You guys are _grounded_ because you _sank your ship during training_ , and now you want me to help steal an even _worse_ ship to sail with you into _deadly, uncharted waters_?”

“Yep,” said Lance.

“Yep,” said Pidge.

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Hunk, shrugging. “Crazy, huh?”

“This might be your only chance, dude,” Lance said, slapping his hand onto Keith’s shoulder. “You coming?

Keith exhaled heavily through his nose. The breath turned to steam immediately against the cold night air, making him looking something like a dragon.

“Fine,” he said, “But if there’s beds on that wreck, I get first pick. And I’m not sharing.”

* * *

Their plan, once they got down to making one, was pretty simple – they didn’t have a plan. No schemes, no tricks. They were going to walk over there, get in the boat, and sail away. If anybody tried to stop them, they’d just keep doing that, but faster.

So that’s what they did. Bunched up in the most-least-suspicious way possible, they shuffled towards their boat like a bunch of awkward penguins. They tried to walk leisurely, but the stress made them want to run, so they ended up just walking slightly too fast to look normal.

Lance almost started whistling innocently, until Pidge elbowed him.

“Don’t you guys have any weapons?” Keith asked, whispering out one corner of his mouth. “In case this goes wrong?”

“We did, until they took them off us,” Hunk whispered back. “Something about ‘Garrison Safety’ I think.”

“What about you, hot-shot?” asked Lance, looking at Keith. “Didn’t you bring anything?”

“First of all, I am _not_ the ‘hot-shot’ in here,” he grumbled. “And secondly, I have a dagger, but that’s it.”

“We stashed some weapons on the boat,” Pidge said. “Just enough that they won’t notice them missing – at least for a while.”

They were now almost half-way to the boat, and were about to pass by a lantern hanging from a post. As they walked into the light, each of them ducked their heads slightly. Lance, seeing how Keith’s faded uniform shone in the light, nudged him back a little and shuffled in front to cover him.

So far, so good. This stretch of harbour was relatively deserted, and the guards at the other side weren’t looking their way. Of course, as Garrison members, at least three of the four of them were perfectly within their rights to be here. It was what followed that would be breaking the rules, but it wouldn’t do to have eyes on them.

“Almost there,” Pidge muttered.

It was true. They had left the stone harbour-front now, and reached the wooden jetty. The old wood, shining wet and half rotten, creaked loudly as they stepped on it. They all cringed, but nobody seemed to look their way.

At last now, the ship was before them. Without waiting for the others, Keith jumped aboard. He landed steadily on the slippy deck, making hardly a sound. Slipping his hand behind his back, he unsheathed a dagger which none of them had previously noticed, and with the blade glinting purple-black against the torchlight, he edged around to the stern of the ship. The other followed him in the order Lance – Hunk – Pidge. Lance’s feet almost slid out from under him, but he steadied himself with a grin.

So far, things were going perfectly. So, of course, it had to go wrong any moment.

And then it did.

Pidge, Hunk and Lance were hurriedly cutting the dock lines and preparing to move the boat out into the harbour when they heard a clatter from below deck. They froze.

“Eh, Keith?” called Lance, putting down some rope to stick his head inside. “You alright down there?”

There was no answer. Frowning, Hunk stopped what he was doing too, and moved over to check.

“You okay buddy?” he called, cupping his hands around his mouth but still whispering in case the guards heard. “Need us to come down?”

From downstairs, they heard a gruff voice that was not Keith’s.

“Get up there!” it grunted. “Go on now, get up!”

Keith stepped forward a moment later, with his hands in the air and his posture unusually straight. They saw why a moment later, when they saw the musket-barrel jabbing the small of his back, and then the man who was holding it. He was small, crabby figure, with hair the colour of sea-salt and the scraggily starts of a beard clinging to his neck.

“Keep going son, up y’go,” the man said, prodding Keith with the gun. Reluctantly, Keith followed his instructions and climbed the steps up onto deck. The man followed afterwards, casting his marble-like eyes around as he went.

“Who the heck is this?” Lance asked, stepping back with his hands open.

“You said nobody owned this boat,” Keith said, grimacing as the gun dug into his back.

“Well he wasn’t here this morning,” said Pidge, sheepishly. She stood just below the wheel platform, holding a long paddle into the sea.

“Yea, I wasn’t here ts’morning,” the man said, smacking his toothless gums. “Got stuff to do in the morning. But I’m here now! Coming home and find someone’s put a bunch of junk in _my_ boat.”

He punctuated the last remark with another jab into Keith’s back. Keith’s eyes flared, and they saw him hold a breath to keep his calm.

“Let me guess,” Keith said. “You guys only checked the boat during morning-times, didn’t you?”

Keith watched as Pidge, Hunk and Lance looked at each other, and saw the realisation come into their eyes. One by one, they nodded guiltily.

“Stop looking at each other,” the man said, scowling at them all. “You’re goin’ to make me paranoid or something.”

A frown suddenly came over Pidge’s face, and she shot it at Lance. Wordlessly, she pointed her eyes at the old man and mouthed something. She punctuated the look with a raised eyebrow.

Lance looked from Pidge to the man, and seemed to think for a second. Then, Keith saw his eyes light up, and he looked back to Pidge. He shook his head once, and then nodded eagerly.

“I said no lookin’ around like that!” the man spat, twisting the musket obnoxiously. “I don’t want ye trying to pull nothing.”

“Or could you at least let me in on it?” Keith asked. “Before this guy shoots me?”

Lance grinned widely and began to laugh. “We just remembered something. There were no guns on this ship earlier. That means that gun he’s using is one of ours.”

“And we checked if they were loaded first,” joined Pidge. “So that gun is empty.”

Keith didn’t have to be told twice. Seizing the opportunity, he stepped forward and swung his foot around in a kick, driving it into the man’s stomach. The man gasped and stumbled back against the wall.

Though obviously winded, the man raised the rifle at Keith’s heart and pulled the trigger.

The hammer dropped, and the rifle clicked harmlessly. Keith allowed himself a rare grin.

Roaring with anger, the man charged at Keith, swinging the rifle like a club. Keith tensed to defend himself, when he heard Pidge shouting “Keith, Duck!” from behind him. He ducked on command, and watched as Pidge swung the sturdy wooden oar across the deck and crunched it into the side of the man’s head. The man dropped his rifle and went sprawling against the ships’ railings, like a boxer hanging on the ropes. He was lucky – if he’d fallen to the other side, there would have been no railings to catch him.

Before Keith or Lance could advance, they felt Hunk’s heavy footsteps, and saw him charge past them.

“Sorry about this, sorry, sorry…” he said, as he scooped the man up in his arms and hauled him over the railing. They all heard the tremendous splash a moment later.

Hunk turned around to them, red-faced, and let out a deep breath.

“Okay guys, I think we need to leave now. Like, fast.”

He was quickly proven right. Already, a few heads had turned to look at the commotion, but then they the heard the coughs and splashes as the man surfaced from the water.

“Thief!” he cried hoarsely, in a shockingly loud voice. “Thieves! They’re stealin’ my boat!”

The crew didn’t need to be told twice, and the four of them quickly fell into position. Hunk and Pidge set to work setting the sails and rowing them out of the harbour, acting in perfect, efficient unison. Keith and Lance, meanwhile, both rushed for the wheel and ran into each other on the steps.

“What’re you doing?” Lance asked. “I’m the captain!”

“Like hell you are,” Keith shot back, trying and failing to shoulder past him. “I’m steering.”

“Dude, I’m steering.”

“Lance, which one of us sank a ship during training?”

“Keith, which one of us got _kicked out_ of the Navy?”

“You know damn well that had nothing to do with my steering,” Keith growled, and Pidge looked up at them sharply.

“Is this the time for this, guys? Really?” she shouted. “Keith, you’re the better helmsman – you take the wheel. Lance, get over here and help me.”

Lance looked like he was about to protest, when a rifle crack jolted them all into action. They looked back, and saw a Garrison man in uniform standing with his rifle raised, with a grey-white cloud rising around it. Luckily, it went wide. Keith pushed his way to the wheel, while Lance took up and oar without further complaint.

They got the ship pointing the right way quickly, and with frantic rowing pushed it out to sea. The harbour mouth was just ahead, but already they could see men running to shut the gate.

“Guys, they’re gonna trap us!” Hunk shouted, rowing frantically.

“I see it,” shouted Keith. “We need to go faster. Somebody set those sails!”

Gritting his teeth as the alert spread across the harbour, Keith spun the wheel with as much control as he could. The wind was blowing in over the harbour mouth, making them sail against it. Keith was forced to zig-zag his way out, trying to keep as close to the wind as possible. It wasn’t usually a difficult manoeuvre, but things were usually a bit calmer when he did it. As if to prove the point, he heard a rifle crack on shore, and he heard a shot plunk into the wood beside him.

They were gaining speed now, and Hunk and Pidge pulled the oars back out of the water and stowed them on the deck. Lance, meanwhile, had disappeared below deck, and now moments later re-appeared with an armful or rifles.

“I loaded some of these,” he said, thrusting them into his crew-mates arms, “So be careful and don’t drop them.”

“Eh, should we be firing back?” Hunk asked, looking at his rifle like he might look at a snake. “I mean, we _are_ breaking the law, right?”

“Oh,” Lance said, slumping a little. “You’re right.”

From up on his platform, Keith shouted down at them between wild strands of hair. “Guys, we’re not going to make the gate before the close it – can we get more speed?”

They looked where he pointed, and saw that he was telling the truth. The running men were sprinting rapidly along both wings of the harbour walls, and had almost reached the gate. They all did the quick maths – they would have the gates shut before the ship got out.

“Give me one of those,” Pidge said suddenly, snatching up rifle.

With a quick movement, she lifted the rifle to her shoulder and squinted down the barrel. Lance and Hunk watched in confusion as she aimed well below the men, and fired. There was a great blast of smoke and noise, and the rifle-shot skimmed against the wall with a tremendous spark. Above it, the running men jumped from fright and tried to slide to a stop. One of them lost their footing on the slippery rock and tumbled, taking down his companions like a row of skittles.

“Hunk, can you take the other wall? We don’t want to hit the men, just scare them enough to buy us some time.”

Hunk beamed at the idea, and took up positon at the other side of the ship.

Pidge handed the empty rifle back to Lance. “Here, I need you to…”

“I’m on it,” nodded Lance, taking the rifle. He rushed quickly downstairs, and quickly reappeared with another arm-full of rifles and the materials to reload them. Grinning to himself, he laid them down on the deck and got to work.

Keith, locked in concentration at the wheel, granted himself a second’s glance downwards and blinked.

“How many guns did you guys take?” he shouted, laughing. “How do they have any left to shoot us with?”

“Trust me dude, this isn’t all of them,” Lance laughed, looking up at him. “You should see the cannon we took.”

A shocked laugh burst from Keith’s lips. “You stole a cannon? For real?”

Lance nodded eagerly. “Get us out of here and we’ll show you.”

Back on the shore, the first pursuit ships were being prepared. Garrison troops leaped on board half at random, and busied themselves at cutting them free. Others rushed to load their rifles, and struggled to get a clear shot through the chaos.

Keith zig-zagged through the wind, cutting a path closer and closer to escape. From the regular rifle-cracks and smoke-plumes, he knew that Hunk and Pidge had the men on the walls pretty well held down. Looking over, he saw a man on Hunk’s side trying to crawl on his belly towards the gate. A shot rang out, and the man jumped for fright and started to shimmy back. Keith didn’t even think it was one of Hunk’s.

And then suddenly, they were through. The ship glided through the harbour mouth, while the gates were still wide open. Below, he heard Lance’s hooting laughter, and couldn’t help but crack a smile.

They weren’t out of danger yet, of course, but none of the pursuing ships had even set off yet, and the night was dark. Keith was soon able to turn away from the wind and cut a smooth arc around the island, picking up speed as he went. In no time the wind was behind them and they were surging away, one small ship in a vast dark ocean. He didn’t know where they were going, but for now, it hardly mattered. What mattered is that they were going.

Keith looked back at the fading Garrison-beacon on the horizon, and grinned as it slipped out of view. Down on deck, Pidge, Hunk and Lance lay stretched out on the deck, panting hard and gigging amongst themselves. Keith cleared his throat and called to them.

“Are you gonna lie there all night? I can’t sail this myself, you know.”

“Are you sure?” answered Hunk, who was lying contentedly with his hands clasped across his belly. “I’m pretty comfy here.”

“Aaaaaaah Keith is right. For once,” said Lance, begrudgingly, and he pulled himself to his feet. He yawned and stretched his arms wide, and then felt the sea air on his face. “Man, it’s good to be back on a boat,” he said.

“You know, I just realised something,” Pidge said, as she too stood up.

“What’s that?” asked Keith.

She cracked a devilish grin. “We’re now officially pirates.”

“We are?” asked Lance. Realisation washed across his face, and he put one boot dramatically on the ship’s railings. “We are!” he repeated. “We’re pirates, off on an adventure. Off to find beautiful women and buried treasure!”

“And hopefully some better food,” Hunk said dreamily.

“And my friend,” Keith said, quieter, and almost to myself. “We’re going to find Shiro.”

“And your friend,” repeated Pidge. “And Matt. And Da… and Doctor Sam.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this - I hope you had fun reading it!  
> If there's enough interest, I'll try to continue this - I have a good idea where to go next.  
> So if you want more, let me know!


End file.
